Issue 18, December 2010

Contents W R ITE RS:Richard Becker, Monte Cook, Adam Gauntlett, Nick Grant, Dan
Harms, Pat Harrigan, James Haughton, George Holochwost, Shane Ivey,
Matthew Pook, Brian Sammons, C.A. Suleiman and John Scott Tynes.

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Columns COV E R AR T IST: Todd Shearer.

The Dread Page of A zathoth 2

I L LUSTR ATORS: Toren Atkinson and Dennis Detwiller.
The Eye of L ight & Darkness 6

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PAGE DESIGN E R : Jessica Hopkins.

Tales of T e r ror A R T D I R ECTOR : Dennis Detwiller.

Mr . Popatov 4
E D ITORS: Adam Crossingham, Dan Harms, Shane Ivey and Greg Stolze,
Slight Return 32 with copy editing by James Knevitt. Founding editor: John Scott Tynes. Editor-in-
chief: Shane Ivey.
House of Hunger 34
The A rt Show

Arcan e Ar ti facts
e 74 E D ITOR IAL BOAR D : Brian Appleton, Monte Cook, Adam Crossingham,
Dennis Detwiller, Adam Scott Glancy, Dan Harms, Kenneth Hite, Shane Ivey,
Greg Stolze, John Scott Tynes and Ray Winninger.
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PLAYTESTE RS: Simon Brake with Matthew Benner, Elliot Biddle and Laura
The Chinaman’s Screen 9 Brake; Steve Dempsey with Beth Lewis, Dave Pickson, Simon Rogers and
Graham Walmsley; Krzysztof Fabjan ́ski with Maciej Paluszkiewicz, Magdalena
The F orgotten 19
Paluszkiewicz and Grzegorz Zawadka; Nathan Palmer; Robert Lint with Ryan
Harris, Alex Miner, Shelly Smith and Grace Willard; Harald Schindler with
Archie Leach, Markus Pelzl, H. Schindler and Tom Stern; Kenneth Scroggins with
Myste r ious Brandon Fong, Thomas and Miles; Tony Toon with Kate Boarman, James House,
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Jason Martin and Josh Oliver; and The Veterans of a Thousand Midnights.
Man uscr i pts
The Branchly Numbers Edit 20 COPY R IGHT: All contents are © 2010 by their respective creators. The Yellow
Sign design is © Kevin Ross. Call of Cthulhu is a trademark of Chaosium Inc. for
their roleplaying game of horror and wonder and is used by their kind permission.
Published by arrangement with The Delta Green Partnership. The intellectual
Featu r e Ar ticles
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property known as Delta Green is © and ™ The Delta Green Partnership, who
has licensed its use here. The Unspeakable Oath is a trademark of Pagan Publishing
Tales of Nephren-K a 10 for its magazine of horror roleplaying. The Unspeakable Oath is published four times
per year by Arc Dream Publishing under license from Pagan Publishing.
The Chapel of C ontemplation 22
Dog Will Hunt 37
SUBM ISSIONS & SUBSCR I P T IONS: Love Cthulhu? Prove it! Our
Black Sunday 63 submission guidelines are at our website. The Unspeakable Oath is available in
four-issue subscriptions and in individual issues, also at our website.

Arc Dream Publishing

Message i n a Bottle 12215 Highway 11, Chelsea, AL 35043, USA
shane.ivey@gmail.com
The Word 80 www.theunspeakableoath.com

Dedicated to Keith “Doc” Herber, bassist and world-class Call of Cthulhu writer, 1949–2009.
 The Dread Page of Azathoth
I first encountered The Unspeakable Oath in 1991. Issue 3 women see the worst that the universe has to offer, incarnated
sat on a game store shelf in Birmingham, Alabama. It was in mind-blasting alien flesh, and try to face it down.
an eye-catcher. Gorgeous black line art by Blair Reynolds,

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three cultists with bloody robes and knives staring That’s heroism.
thoughtfully out; goldenrod cardstock cover wrap, staple-
bound, very do-it-yourself. I’ve been playing it for nearly 30 years and it still gives
me chills.
Those cultists amazed me. You could tell they weren’t just

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anonymous mooks, easy pickings for heroic investigators; I could tell right off, the guys behind The Unspeakable Oath
they had depth. They had names and ideas and plans. were my kind of gamers. They designed scenarios and
adventure ingredients with rich details and well-researched
Underneath them, the logotype: “ . . . for the Call of backgrounds. They looked for villains with real character,
Cthulhu roleplaying game.” whose motivations, even when insane and irredeemably
evil, made a certain kind of pragmatic sense. They rejected
That cinched it. the easy answers of the Cthulhu Mythos authors who
provided benevolent, or at least accessible, alternate gods
I hadn’t even opened the cover. as foils to the awfulness of the Great Old Ones. And yet

e they had a wicked sense of humor.

They clearly adored the same mix of careful investigation

and crazy, unpredictable action that so many of us loved
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I had been a Call of Cthulhu fanatic since the game first in Call of Cthulhu—and in emphasizing meaningful
appeared. A D&D buddy ran that first game and I was the characterization they explored the game’s true depths.
sole player; I solved the case and then my character was
betrayed and murdered.

I was 13 years old and I was hooked. Fantasy gaming never

quite measured up again. By the time The Unspeakable Oath walked or stumbled
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to its long hiatus in 2000, I had been working with its

In high school my friends and I played a long campaign, publisher, Pagan Publishing, for a few years. I proofread
taking the same core group of investigators, minus a and playtested some of their books and contributed a piece
casualty here and there, entirely through Terror From the Stars or two; I ran their Delta Green website.
and Shadows of Yog-Sothoth. Hardened veterans, we charged
into Masks of Nyarlathotep and made it through two scenarios. It wasn’t long before I partnered up with Dennis Detwiller,
Then came our private apocalypse: midnight on a cold little Pagan’s art director, to form Arc Dream Publishing.
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island, alien gods seeping down from the sky. Those long- Dennis and the Pagan crew had applied their unique
running investigators died to a man. Only one newcomer sensibilities to World War II and superheroes for the
escaped—and he had murdered one of the veterans. roleplaying game Godlike, eventually published by
Hobgoblynn Press. After Dennis and I secured Godlike’s
It takes a certain kind of gamer to go through that kind of publishing rights and stock from Hobgoblynn it became
punishment and come out begging for more. Most shake Arc Dream’s flagship property. Years trickled by; we made
their heads and ask when they can get back to the good, more games; we were nominated for awards despite barely
clean heroism of a game with affordable resurrection. But making a ripple in the industry at large.
my friends and I loved it. The risk itself was a thrill.
Everything Arc Dream did was informed at some level
And as for heroism—well. As Ken Hite has elsewhere by The Unspeakable Oath. Godlike and Wild Talents are
observed, Call of Cthulhu is the most heroic roleplaying game about the nature and risks of heroism, not just the glory of
ever played. It’s heroic precisely because of the things that superpowers. Monsters and Other Childish Things features
make it so horrifying. It’s a game where ordinary men and ordinary kids with ferocious, often downright Lovecraftian

2
 monsters as their friends and protectors; monsters that give of point at the right time and gain the clue. In play it has a
them power but put their friends and loved ones in danger. very different feel from Call of Cthulhu, heavily focused on
It’s funny and horrific by turns. We never would have detective work and careful discovery.

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made those kinds of games if The Unspeakable Oath hadn’t
convinced us that kind of gaming were possible. There’s been Realms of Cthulhu, an alternate version of
Call of Cthulhu for the pulp action game Savage Worlds;
A few years ago Arc Dream got together with Pagan CthulhuTech with a science fiction take on the Mythos;
to resurrect another Call of Cthulhu property that had The Laundry, adapting Charles Stross’ excellent stories of

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seemingly slipped off to the Dreamlands, one that had its espionage, bureaucracy and the Mythos; at Arc Dream
roots in The Unspeakable Oath: Delta Green. Arc Dream we adapted the Godlike and Wild Talents rules to Mythos
put Delta Green: Eyes Only together and Pagan published it, horror with the free game Nemesis.
and then we did the more ambitious Delta Green: Targets of
Opportunity, which came out this year. And so in The Unspeakable Oath we’ll provide resources for
many Cthulhu Mythos roleplaying games. But the essence
Somewhere in there, Dennis and I started talking about of the Oath will always be the game that inspired it.
The Unspeakable Oath. After Delta Green, resurrecting the
Oath didn’t seem quite so daunting. It’s true that games with more streamlined character

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We talked about it with Scott Glancy at Pagan, and with
John Scott Tynes who founded the Oath; they were pleased
with the work we’d done for Delta Green; and then the
generation and more tightly focused mechanics can make
Call of Cthulhu’s decades-old rules and endless list of skills
feel a little fusty and crusty. But the game has been around
this long because it works. It’s not for everyone, but it’s a
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deal was done. game that does what it’s trying to do.

At one point I remember it suddenly sinking in: Holy shit. In Call of Cthulhu there are no sure things. At best there’s
We’re bringing back the Oath! only a hint in a grimy old book that you might not even
notice on the shelf. The spasmodic pull of an unfamiliar
I may be running the thing now, but I’ll always be a trigger. A stumbling flight from stinking shadows to the
giddy fan at heart. false light of day. More likely it’s death that you never
saw coming, or a realization that leaves you utterly,
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permanently unhinged.

There’s no control to be had, narrative or otherwise.

December 2010 marks the 20th anniversary of the first Success, when you manage it, is a thrill. Madness and
issue of The Unspeakable Oath. John Scott Tynes was a mayhem are often much more fun.
college student when he put that first issue together, writing
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most of it himself. He kept it going for seven years, then Join us and see if you agree.
a break, then a last issue—and then a decade’s silence
until today. And after all this time, countless gamers still
remember the Oath with love. John should be proud as hell.
S hane I vey, editor - in - chief
Roleplaying games have seen a lot of changes in the 20
years since The Unspeakable Oath first appeared, and in the
10 since it last appeared. Several new games have covered Postscript: Longtime readers may notice there’s a section
the Cthulhu Mythos. missing in this issue: Scream and Scream Again, the letters
column. With so many years gone by between issues it
Ken Hite’s Trail of Cthulhu, a licensed variant on Call of didn’t seem feasible to collect comments on the last one
Cthulhu, moves the investigations at the heart of the game to be published. We’ll most likely see Scream and Scream
away from randomized skill rolls. Instead it uses pools of Again in issue 19. See the masthead for our mailing and
skill points under the player’s control; spend the right kind email addresses.

Issue 18 3
 A Tale of Terror: Mr. Popatov

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B y J ohn S cott Tynes

In the course of an adventure, the investigators interview

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a witness to some recent event. This witness is of negligible
value to the adventure, offering only a few corroborating
details. But the interview with the witness is a different
matter.

The man’s name is Josef Rebane. He is eighty years old

and hard of hearing, but mentally and verbally sharp. Josef
is Estonian and came to this country forty years ago. He is
a puppeteer.

e The interview is in his home, a run-down cottage. His

home is crowded with old furniture, relics of larger homes
now crammed into this little space. In the living room
is his red-velvet puppet theatre and hanging on the wall
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behind it is his collection of marionettes.

One marionette, a goat named Mr. Popatov, is suspended

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4
 e
That night, the investigator with the lowest Sanity has a

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vivid dream. He’s back in Josef’s house but now he realizes
that Josef himself is a marionette being operated by slender
black threads—threads that drape across the floor and
terminate in a coil around Mr. Popatov’s black cloven hoof.

Possibility 1: Nothing Scary Here

If the investigators pay another visit, they find the house
locked and dark. Neighbors report Josef hurriedly left with

e his puppet theatre. He does not return during the current

scenario. Peering in the windows, the investigators can see
Mr. Popatov sitting in Josef’s chair. He does not move and
should the investigators break in, Mr. Popatov is nothing
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but a puppet.

Possibility 2: The R elic

Mr. Popatov is a reliquary for the teeth of a powerful
Estonian cultist of Shub-Niggurath. The spirit of the
cultist can possess Josef whenever needed as long as he
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is physically present. Now that Josef is old, the spirit is

looking for a new owner for Mr. Popatov. Scattering the
DETWILLER

teeth in barren soil will break the spirit’s connection

forever.

from the top of the puppet theatre so that he dangles

within the proscenium. Mr. Popatov is a black goat with Possibility 3: On the Altar
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a broad smile.
Mr. Popatov is soon to be sacrificed by the rest of the
The interview goes uneventfully, with some light comedy puppets in Josef’s theatre in a black mass to be held in
provided by Josef’s hearing problem. The investigators some ominous outdoor spot. Josef will carry his theatre
notice, however, that Mr. Popatov is never still. He rocks there, lay Mr. Popatov atop a stone, and then manipulate
gently back and forth, somewhat irregularly, and several the other puppets as they enact the ritual and cut Mr.
times he turns slightly as if facing one investigator or Popatov’s strings. Josef’s planning and field trips for
another or Josef himself. this event will provide plenty of fodder for watchful
investigators. Should he succeed in sacrificing Mr.
Of course, it’s a creaky, unsteady old house. Even shifting Popatov, Josef will die and his soul transferred into the now
in your chair is enough to make the tea cups Josef serves liberated and living body of Mr. Popatov.
rattle in their saucers. When the investigators get up to
leave, their footsteps make Mr. Popatov jiggle.

Issue 18 5
 the Eye of Light & Darkness
B y various cultists
Reviews are rated on a scale of one to ten phobias. Six or more Rather than traditional attributes and skills, in the
means it’s worth the money; at ten it’s insanely terrific. GUMSHOE System characters are defined by two Ability
types: Investigative (divided into Academic, Interpersonal,
and Technical) and General. Both Ability types are

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represented by pools of points. Investigative Ability points
are spent to acquire clues while General Ability points are
Trail of Cthulhu spent to modify the die rolls in actions such as Driving,
Fleeing, and Scuffling. Notably, both Health and Stability
P elgrane P ress , $ 39.95 are General Abilities, as is the signature Sanity Ability,

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B y K enneth H ite their points spent to save against taking physical or mental
R eviewed by M atthew P ook damage respectively.

While the use of point pools adds a resource management

aspect, it shifts the focus to understanding clues rather than
obtaining them, because Ability points are spent to gain
extra information about a clue. If an investigator has an
appropriate Ability, then he always gets the basic clue itself.

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Call of Cthulhu is not perfect. It quantifies the Cthulhu
Mythos, giving it numbers and making it knowable. Its skill
system can result in the investigators missing clues and thus
Alongside a re-examination of the Mythos, its entities,
and its tomes, Hite provides a good overview of the 1930s,
complete with new cults, some of which have a political
aspect. In addition to the Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign
and Yithian agents, he details Germany’s Ahnenerbe
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stalling a scenario. It can be difficult to explain character and Japan’s Black Dragon Society. Their inclusion nicely
motivation for investigating the horrors of the Mythos. leads into the overview of the “Dirty Thirties,” a decade
of famine, poverty, racism, totalitarianism (described as
Trail of Cthulhu is a licensed version of Call of Cthulhu from mankind’s own “Creeping Order”), and war.
Pelgrane Press that addresses these issues. Written by Ken
Hite (a member of the editorial board of The Unspeakable Where in Call of Cthulhu an investigator simply loses
Oath), it uses that publisher’s GUMSHOE System, Robin Sanity, in Trail he can lose Sanity and Stability. Stability
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D. Laws’ rules that shift the emphasis from finding clues to measures an investigator’s immediate mental state and
interpreting them. Hite adds Drives to explain investigator can be relatively easily recovered, while Sanity measures
motivation. By discussing entities of the Mythos often in acceptance of the universe’s true nature. Sanity is still lost
contradictory terms, not giving them stats beyond the Sanity for reading Mythos tomes, but is also lost for suffering a
loss they inflict, and by moving the game forward into the Mythos Shock (which occurs when a Mythos encounter
Desperate Decade of the 1930s, Hite makes Lovecraftian drives an investigator’s Stability below 0), and, more
investigative horror unknown once again. radically, for using the Cthulhu Mythos skill to understand
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reality. Thus not only is learning Mythos knowledge

The first big difference between Call and Trail is that Trail dangerous, but so is using it, making it a more active
asks which mode of play you prefer. It offers two, Purist decision than merely rolling the dice as in Call of Cthulhu.
or Pulp. Inspired by the majority of Lovecraft’s stories, Similarly, casting spells in Trail is more dangerous,
the Purist mode has players and Keeper play out tales of incurring a Stability check, a potential Mythos Shock, and
intellectual and philosophical horror, doomed to a searing potential health loss, so even for an insane sorcerer spells
understanding of the cosmos. The Robert E. Howard- are still perilous.
inspired Pulp mode is more physical, its protagonists ready
with two guns blazing. The modes show in the Occupations: Besides excellent advice for the Keeper on creating
Author and Antiquarian are Purist while Alienist and and running a Trail game, “Campaign Frames” offer
Private Investigator are Pulp. In the Drives, “Sense of alternative approaches and themes that could be pitched
Adventure” is Pulp, “Artistic Sensibility” is Purist. Pulp as television series. There are three samples. Project
mode allows “Bullet Resistant Clothing” and Purist mode Covenant’s “The Untouchables meets Delta Green” or “The
calls for Ability caps.